Stormers fullback Joe Pietersen has passed a fitness test on the hip injury which prevented him from touring with the Stormers and could be included in the side to face the Sharks in Durban on Saturday.
Pietersen’s return could prove timely for the Stormers with Bryan Habana a doubtful participant due to a rib injury picked up during Friday’s win over the Crusaders
Fullback Pietersen was one of the star performers in the earlier stages of the competition, but injury forced him out of the overseas tour. He was back in training on Monday, and came through what coach Allister Coetzee described as a stiff test to prove his readiness.
“Joe could well be back in the playing squad this week, possibly playing off the bench. He trained this morning and he came through it well,” said Coetzee.
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Vodacom Stormers 42 Crusaders 14
Vodacom Stormers – Tries: Jaque Fourie (2), Sireli Naqelevuki; Conversions: Peter Grant (3); Penalties: Grant (7).
Crusaders – Tries: Daniel Carter, Colin Slade; Conversions: Carter (2).
Vodacom Bulls 27 The Sharks 19
Vodacom Bulls – Tries: Jacques-Louis Potgieter, Gerhard van den Heever; Conversion: Morne Steyn; Penalties: Steyn (5).
The Sharks – Try: Rory Kockott; Conversion: Kockott; Penalties: Andy Goode (4).
Vodacom Cheetahs 36 Blues 32
Vodacom Cheetahs – Tries: Juan Smith, Jongi Nokwe, Bjorn Basson, Phillip van der Merwe, Waltie Vermeulen; Conversions: Naas Olivier (2), Meyer Bosman (2); Penalty: Olivier.
Blues – Tries: Isaia Toeava, Rene Ranger, Alby Mathewson, Anthony Tuitavake; Conversions: Stephen Brett (3); Penalties: Brett (2).
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The South African rugby crowds’ attendance record in the Super 14 campaign have thus far beaten their rivals New Zealand and Australia in 2010.
At a time of concern in Australia and New Zealand over dwindling crowd attendances, which saw the Aussies hail last week’s total of 82,000 spectators at three different venues as a ‘bumper’ weekend, South Africa are about to go into a three-week period of sell-out crowds in the region of 50,000.
It will start at Newlands on Friday, when the second-placed Stormers host the third-placed Crusaders – a stadium with a capacity of 48,000. At last count there were just on 2,000 tickets available and the game is certainly heading for a sell-out.
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Richie McCaw will celebrate his 100th Super 14 game for the Crusaders against the Stormers at Newlands on Friday night.
The All Black and Crusaders captain will be playing his landmark Super 14 match against the Stormers in a game that both teams have to win after last week’s hiccups in Brisbane (Stormers) and Perth (Crusaders). The Crusaders seldom lose two games in a row, so the Stormers should be wary, and even more so now that the visitors will be trying to make it a special one for their leader.
“The Stormers will have a similar feeling to us as they were knocked over last week as well,” said McCaw.
“If we are going to be in with a shot at the end of the competition, we need to perform this week. That is the bottom line. We realise that if we are going to be in the top four, we have to win all three of the remaining games.
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The Stormers are hoping to procure Springbok prop BJ Botha to solve their prop crisis the rest of this Super 14 season.
It is understood that the Stormers are in negotiations with Botha and his Irish club, Ulster, with the aim to have him released for five weeks from his European commitments.
Botha is an old boy of DHS and has played all his rugby in South Africa for the Sharks. He left to further his career overseas in 2008 and was sidelined from international action until he made a successful return to the Springbok team during last season’s end of year tour.
The Stormers are not yet in a position to confirm Botha’s signing, but they are confident that a deal can be worked out.
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Reds 16 Vodacom Stormers 13
Reds – Try: Will Chambers; Conversion: Quade Cooper; Penalties: Cooper (3).
Vodacom Stormers – Try: Andries Bekker; Conversion: Peter Grant; Penalties: Grant (2).
Chiefs 25 Vodacom Cheetahs 25
Chiefs – Tries: Colin Bourke, Hika Elliot, Toby Smith, Dwayne Sweeney, Liam Messam.
Vodacom Cheetahs – Tries: Devon Raubenheimer, WP Nel, Meyer Bosman; Conversions: Naas Olivier (2); Penalties: Olivier (2).
Vodacom Bulls 51 Auto & General Lions 11
Vodacom Bulls – Tries: Gerhard van den Heever (2), Derick Kuün, Morné Steyn, Wynand Olivier, John Mametsa; Conversions: Morné Steyn (3); Penalties: Steyn (5).
Auto & General Lions – Try: Wandile Mjekevu; Penalties: Herkie Kruger (2).
The Sharks 23 Blues 10
Scorers: The Sharks – Tries: Ruan Pienaar; Penalties: Pienaar (4), Kockott (2).
Blues – Tries: Peter Saili; Conversion: Stephen Brett; Penalty: Brett.
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Victor Matfield has revealed how the Bulls manage their players to avoid player burnout.
Matfield, who has not missed one of the nine rounds of the Vodacom Super 14 this year, has been given time off in the weeks leading up to games to ensure he is battle fresh when he leads his team onto the field.
The same goes for the other core Springboks – Pierre Spies, Danie Rossouw, Gurthrö Steenkamp, Morné Steyn, Wynand Olivier and Fourie du Preez during the overseas leg of this year’s competition.
Du Preez was rested this week due to a niggling shoulder injury, but with the way the Bulls are controlling their playing resources, would probably have started the game.
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Juan Smith will captain the Cheetahs just days after his dad’s funeral as the Cheetahs aim to win their first Super 14 game.
Smith’s inclusion is one of six changes and a positional switch to the Cheetahs’ line-up for Friday’s match against the Chiefs in Hamilton.
He joined up with his team-mates in New Zealand on Monday night. His father’s funeral was in Bloemfontein last Tuesday.
Smith would initially have missed the rest of the tour, but an ankle injury to lock Waltie Vermeulen prompted team management to call him up for the last tour game.
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The Bulls and the Cheetahs will play their remaining regular season including Super 14 games at their home stadiums despite earlier reports.
Parliamentary committee on sport chairman Butana Komphela said on Tuesday that football and rugby had “pledged to support each other as brothers” after meeting with representatives of the teams and South African Rugby Union president Oregan Hoskins.
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The Bulls and Cheetahs may be forced to play the remainder of their Super 14 home games somewhere else than Loftus Versfeld and Vodacom Park. This could be a financial headache for the Bulls in particular who have to host three crowd-pulling matches against the Lions, Sharks and log-leaders Crusaders over the next three weekends.
The Blue Bulls Company (Pty) Limited CEO Barend van Graan, has to appear before the parliamentary portfolio committee on sport on Tuesday, together with the Free State Rugby Union’s president Harold Verster and the president of the SA Rugby Union (Saru), Oregan Hoskins.
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